Specialty Coffee Association of America Brings World’s Largest Specialty Coffee Event to Houston, Texas, April 27 – May 1, 2011 — The Specialty Coffee Association of America’s (SCAA) 23rd Annual Exposition & Symposium will be held in Houston, Texas this April 28 – May 1, 2010.

At the annual Exposition thousands of coffee professionals from more than 40 countries will converge at the George R. Brown Convention Center to focus on specialty coffee, learn about the latest innovational trends and products in the coffee marketplace, and engage with fellow industry professionals for the ultimate purpose of delivering a better experience for coffee drinkers.

Multitudes of people worldwide begin each day with a cup of steaming hot coffee. Although it is sometimes referred to as “the devil’s brew,” coffee contains several nutrients (eg, calcium) as well as hundreds of potentially biologically active compounds (eg, polyphenols) that may promote health.

For instance, observational studies have suggested a beneficial link between coffee consumption and type 2 diabetes.

The tricked-out 1972 La Marzocco GS2 espresso machine that Intelligentsia has had restored for the Venice, Calif., cafe is a dazzler. With its polished walnut, glass panels and laser-engraved knobs, it’s part vintage amp, part Apple Cube and not like any other machine out there.

That’s because it also has a pedigree: it’s the first La Marzocco, from the original Starbucks cafe.

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Attendees came from all over the US to take part in the educational offerings, the networking events, experience the Coffee Fest World Latte Art Championship Open and sampled from more than 190 exhibition booths. Once totaled, actual attendance was 1,805. Coffee Fest Exhibitors accounted for an additional 1,056 badges bringing the total attendance to just under 3000.

For the first time ever Coffee Fest attendees and fans determined the awards for best new products. Voting occurred on-line at www.coffeefest.com and the results were announced on Friday afternoon with awards presented as follows:

New Yorkers really love their coffee: They drink 6.7 times as much as do people who live in other major cities. Philadelphians, however, look to be especially partial to pretzels, eating about five times as many as those who live elsewhere, according to the number crunchers at health-care start-up Massive Health.

The data comes from Massive Health’s iPhone app, Eatery, which had users snap 7.68 million pictures of everything they ate over the course of five months. The crowd-sourced data looks to be a reliable snapshot of how people eat: Their data on food consumption for each American city, for example, predict its obesity level. Individual users’ habits lined up with scientific research. They saw that those who eat breakfast tend to eat smaller portion sizes throughout the day, just as many previous studies have found.

In Massive Health’s global rankings, New York came in as the healthiest eaters in the United States. (Who Knew?)

We know how to pair our wines, even teas — but how about pairing the foods we love with our favourite coffee? The idea for matching your meals with coffee instead of wine is rarely considered, yet it can be exciting and can definitely challenge your tastebuds. When you think about it, coffee is like fine wine in many ways — every coffee expresses its own terroir, reflecting the place where it is grown. Consider the bright citrus notes in Kenyan beans, the sweeter flavour of Costa Rican coffee, the earthy, woodsy notes of coffee from Indonesia. And, like wine, coffees have different acidity, intensity and body.

My Coffee Profile is:Velvety & Fruity

These well-balanced coffees showcase a supple body with the perfect harmony between sweetness and tartness. With flavours of berries and citrus, and floral notes in the aroma, these coffees suggest a lively composition in every cup and a warm brightness on the palate of those who enjoy a fine roast.

That’s the latest score, as Starbucks has made an unusually rapid reversal in how it colors its Strawberry Frappuccinos — and some of its other foods and drinks.

Just weeks after the world’s largest coffee chain took serious PR heat from vegan groups and public relations gurus for switching to commonly-used cochineal beetles to color its Strawberry , the company’s U.S. president, Cliff Burrows, now says that bugs are coming out and tomato-based extract is coming in.

Vegans bash Starbucks for beetle coloring in frappuccinos

By the end of June the company will transition to using lycopene, a natural, tomato-based extract, in its Strawberry & Creme Frappuccino blended beverage and Strawberry Banana Smoothie. It also will drop the use of cochineal extract in its Raspberry Swirl Cake, Birthday Cake Pop, Mini Donut with pink icing and Red Velvet Whoopie Pie.

“We fell short of your expectations,” he said, in a statement on Thursday on the company’s “My Starbucks Idea” consumer site. “We are reformulating the affected products to assure the highest quality possible.”

Starbucks (SBUX) made the original switch away from artificial coloring in January, when it aggressively moved away from the use of any artificial ingredients in its food and drinks. Starbucks has worked diligently to improve the quality of its menu. But the backlash came just a few months later, when a vegan Starbucks barista alerted a vegan blogger of the change.

At least one consultant thinks Starbucks acted quickly and decisively. “That’s pretty quick when it come to companies making major changes in ingredients,” says management strategist Barbara Brooks.

“They were aggressive and didn’t set up a commission with recommendations eight months later.”

The vegan world is ecstatic.

“Starbucks clearly learned from its error after switching to a dye from insects,” says David Byer, senior corporate liaison at People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. “Since no one, vegetarian or not, wants beetle juice in their Frap, everyone will soon be able to celebrate the fact that it’s gone for good.”

The vegan blogger who first complained about the coloring says she is happy, too. “Through this move, Starbucks has shown that it cares about the opinions of its consumers,” says Daelyn Fortney, managing editor of ThisDishisVeg.com.
But she’s holding off on celebrating with a Strawberry Frap until the change is final.

Concern – Worried about developing skin cancer?Solution – After downing a cup of strong cup of coffee, go for a brisk run.

At least, that’s the suggestion from a new study presented at a major medical conference in Chicago this week, where researchers said that the combination of caffeine and exercise could protect against sun-related skin cancer.

In their animal studies, a team of scientists observed the effects of caffeine and exercise on mice that were at high risk for developing skin cancer. Those given a dose of caffeine and that exercised with a running wheel experienced 62 percent fewer skin tumors. Volume of tumors also decreased by 85 percent compared to the control mice.

The reason? Researchers believe that the caffeine and exercise combo reduces inflammation, a precursor to developing skin cancer.

Similarly, when mice were fed caffeine and put on the running wheel, the dual effect also produced better weight loss results compared to one treatment alone.

The latest findings, presented at the annual meeting for the American Association for Cancer Research this week, build on the team’s previous research which found that caffeine guards against skin cancer at the molecular level by inhibiting a protein enzyme in the skin called ATR.

Meanwhile, another study published last year in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute also found that shift work may be associated with a reduced risk of skin cancer in women due to the suppression of melatonin.